National Energy Storage Association Leads Effort in ERCOT

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Energy Storage Association (ESA) has begun engaging directly in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) stakeholder driven market redesign process. The Texas Energy Storage Alliance (TESA) had convened a group of industry members to work collaboratively; that effort has now been folded into the larger national organization. ESA is the forum for broad industry input that will ensure proposed rules will enable the advancement of utility scale energy storage technologies.

"We can build on the successes achieved by this state group, bringing more companies, a national perspective and an industry-leading knowledge base to participate in this vibrant market," said ESA Executive Director Matt Roberts. "

"Texas is an important market for energy storage, and ERCOT is leading a stakeholder process that could become a model for other system operators," said Darrell Hayslip, Chairman of the Board of ESA. "Energy storage is uniquely positioned to provide immense value in the ancillary services market."

ERCOT issued a white paper last December identifying the need to update and overhaul the ancillary services market that originated in the 1990's, before significant deployments of wind energy and other generation sources. ERCOT recognizes that a new approach to ancillary services could allow for more effective, efficient and reliable use of existing and new resources like energy storage.

ERCOT often leads the nation in power innovation and deployment of new technologies. According to the Department of Energy, Texas has over 450 MW of grid-scale energy storage currently in operation or planned to go into service. The largest battery energy storage installation in the U.S. – Duke Energy's 36-megawatt Notrees Battery Storage Project – is located in Goldsmith, TX.

"Energy storage is a critical component of a reliable and responsive electricity grid," said Suzi McClellan of Good Company Associates who led the TESA state effort and who will now represent ESA in Texas. "When TESA was first formed, the word 'storage' didn't even appear in the state's utility laws – now it does. We have made immense progress, and merging with the ESA will allow us to have an even greater impact in Texas, and to impart lessons learned here to other critical markets."

As energy storage technologies are commercialized and the energy storage industry grows nationwide, this state-based effort will benefit enormously from the leadership by the national trade association.

About ESA – The Energy Storage Association is the national trade association for the energy storage industry whose mission is to promote, develop and commercialize competitive and reliable energy storage delivery systems for use by electricity suppliers and their customers. ESA members represent a diverse group of entities, including electric utilities, energy service companies, independent power producers, technology developers deploying advanced batteries, flywheels, compressed air energy storage, thermal storage, pumped hydropower, supercapacitors and component suppliers, such as power conversion systems.